European shares down in jittery pre-Fed trade

* FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.5 pct in jittery trade

* No change expected from Fed at this meeting

* Nokia leads gainers, Nordea heads losers

By Toni Vorobyova

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - European shares were down by
mid-morning on Wednesday in what was set to be light and
volatile session as investors look to the U.S. Federal Reserve
for clues on the duration of its equity-friendly stimulus
programme.

The possibility that the Fed could scale back its bond
purchases has spooked global equity markets in recent weeks and,
although it was generally not expected to make such an
announcement at the meeting which ends late on Wednesday,
investors remained nervous. ID:nL2N0EU1GQ]

The FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.5 percent at 1,177.31
points by 0752 GMT, retreating from a session high of 1,186.52
points, and holding more than 6 percent below the
5-year highs scaled last month before concerns about the end of
ample global stimulus sent markets into a tailspin.

"The market is very nervous," said Oliver Roth, head trader
at Close Brothers Seydler.

"For investors, I would say that they should be careful and
set their limits - especially stop limits - very carefully,
because if there is some change coming up for the Fed policy
then there could be a dramatic drop for the market. But I don't
expect such a change," he added.

On the technical charts, the 100-day moving average was seen
as the likely next resistance for the FTSEurofirst 300, at
1,190.34 points, while the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement of
the recent retreat acted as support, tempering losses.

"We have seen this come-down for 3-1/2 weeks - a normal
consolidation after the brilliant bull market in the four weeks
before," said Achim Matzke, a strategist at Commerzbank.

"If they give indications for a switch in their policies,
then it's not surprising if the consolidation continues, but all
in all it looks like the market is on stable ground and perhaps
has a chance to go a little bit higher."

Among individual stocks, Nordic companies claimed both the
top gainer and the top loser spots in the FTSEurofirst 300.

Nokia rose 4.1 percent, after Huawei executive
said the company was "open-minded" about the possibility of
buying the Finnish mobile phone firm, even though Huawei later
clarified it had no plans for an acquisition.

Nordea, meanwhile, fell 4.0 percent after Sweden
said it has sold shares in the bank at a discount, cutting the
state holding to 7.0 percent from 13.4.